Hollowbell has endured eleven days of rain, a bell that rings without a hand on its rope and a missing bell keeper the town insists never existed. The Bureau classifies the complaint as routine. Senior Inspector Marie Brass knows better.
For her first field assignment, Nelly Blackledger must trace an inherited bargain through frightened witnesses, falsified records and a courteous dealer who already knows the secret living inside her shadow. Every answer makes the case less lawful—and more personal.